Windows 7 Taskbar and Notification area (system tray)

The taskbar is one of the most heavily redesigned feature in Windows 7 - especially if you are upgrading from Windows XP, but even coming from Windows Vista.

Overview of our Windows 7 taskbar tutorials

This series of free Windows 7 tutorials will focus on the taskbar as a whole, from moving, resizing, and customizing it, to configuring the size and behavior of its icons. In these tutorials, we will also explain how to configure the system clock, from the time format and date style, to hiding the clock altogether. Rather than create separate tutorials on changing date and time settings, we have included them in this section, since you can access these Region and Language options from the system clock itself.

One of the most common questions about the new Windows 7 taskbar is "Where is Quick Launch gone?" While it is not enabled by default in Windows 7, it is still there, and we'll show you how to show it, and even how to create your own Quick Launch by adding folder toolbars to the taskbar.

We'll also spend some time covering "Aero Peek", how to use it, customize it, and disable it: it is a new take on the "Show desktop" icon button you are familiar with from previous versions of Windows.